By 2 Cents on April 2nd, 2010 | Category: Debt | People are living longer than ever before, a phenomenon undoubtedly made necessary by the 30-year mortgage.
~ Doug Larson
Update: This article was included in the Carnival of Financial Planning #136 posted at Bargaineering. Thanks!
On Monday, several Canadian banks boosted their fixed mortgage rates by 60 basis points (.60%). That’s a pretty big hike all at once. The Globe and Mail ran the following headline: Mortgage Rate Boost Signals Rock Bottom Era Is Over. Can’t you just hear all those folks who just signed up for variable rate mortgages scurrying to lock in fixed rates?
We had to renew our mortgage a while ago when rates were higher and currently have a 5-year 5.49% rate. Unfortunately, (or fortunately?) it’s not as easy to renegotiate mortgages in Canada as it is in the U.S., so we have tried to do [...]
Read on and enjoy … Why Are Mortgage Rates Rising?
By 2 Cents on March 16th, 2010 | Category: Money Psychology | I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
~ Jennifer Yane
Update: This article is featured in the Money Hackers Blog Carnival #109 posted at Maximizing Money. Thank you!
I’ve written a lot of “vs.” posts comparing various financial priorities like RRSPs vs. TFSAs and RRSPs vs. Paying Down Debt. I still understandably get a lot of questions about which of these to do first and how to put financial priorities in order. Should you take them on one at a time or try to tackle them all at once? As usual, a lot of that will depend on your unique situation.
We are constantly bombarded by advice that tells us that we need to be maxing out our RRSP contribution room, our TFSA contributions, and saving [...]
Read on and enjoy … Financial Priorities: Focus vs. Diffusion
By 2 Cents on February 5th, 2010 | Category: Economics | Credit buying is much like being drunk. The buzz happens immediately and gives you a lift . . . The hangover comes the day after.
~ Joyce Brothers
Update: This post is featured in the Money Hackers Carnival #103 at Need Money Tips.
Yesterday’s post outlined in detail the debt overhang that I believe will lead to a big debt hangover. The mechanics of how this might play out will have a major effect on where interest rates will head. Why should you care?
Well, if you have any kind of debt it will affect the interest rate you pay to service that debt. If you invest in bonds, it will affect the price of those bonds or those of the ETF or mutual fund that holds them. If a true debt spiral occurs, a market panic could [...]
Read on and enjoy … Where Are Interest Rates Going?
By 2 Cents on January 11th, 2010 | Category: Planning | Map out your future, but do it in pencil.
~ Jon Bon Jovi
Well, after the last 2 years, my pencil is 2 centimetres long and my eraser – well, let’s just say I have a new one. Budgeting and goal setting have been a real challenge recently for reasons outlined in Our Money Story (Part I & Part II) last week. Still, that hasn’t kept me from trying, and sometimes failing.
I normally might have finished my 2010 list of goals some time in December in years past. This year, I just couldn’t do it. There seemed to be too many uncertainties surrounding 2010, and frankly, after 2008 and 2009, I was afraid to write anything down because I was pretty sure all my plans would eventually get scrapped anyway.
But as sure as flowers in springtime, my annual New Year’s burst of energy [...]
Read on and enjoy … Our 2010 Financial Plan
By 2 Cents on January 8th, 2010 | Category: Life Balance | In theory one is aware that the earth revolves, but in practice one does not perceive it. The ground upon which one treads seems not to move, and one can live undisturbed. So it is with Time in one’s life.
~ Marcel Proust, The Past Recaptured, 1927
Yesterday I posted Part I of Our Money Story. I would have preferred to keep the story to one post, and maybe I could have if I were 25 years old. But alas, I am 4 weeks away from my 40th birthday. When I left off, Mr. Cents and I were nearing the end of our first decade together. Next, the ground on which we tread began to move.
Mr. Cents was still working in a retail store, although he did not like it as much as he had liked his job as a buyer for the same company. An [...]
Read on and enjoy … Our Money Story: Part II
By 2 Cents on December 30th, 2009 | Category: Economics |  Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
~ Hal Borland
Yesterday we looked at some notes that I had made at the beginning of 2009. Today, we look at possible problem areas for 2010. Again, these are obviously not predictions, as I’m too chicken to stick my neck out on what I think will happen. Further, I don’t have any idea what will happen, nor do the thousands of pundits making their “here’s what ‘s going to happen in 2010 lists”. This is meant to be food for thought, and nothing more. (I don’t know about you, but I could use a little more of that kind of food rather than the calorie-filled sort I’ve indulged in over the past week!)
Debt: I think this [...]
Read on and enjoy … 2010 What Ifs
|
|
Recent Comments